Drying and separating unit



y 25, 1954 T. L. SIPE 2,679,113

DRYI'NG AND SEPARATING UNIT Filed Jan. 25, 1952 INVENTOR. ZHERZZL l.SIRE WW5 m Patented May 25, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,679,113DRYING AND SEPARATING UNIT Therell L. Sipe, Parma, Ohio ApplicationJanuary 25, 1952, Serial No. 268,254

1 Claim.

dicated to a drying and separating unit and more particularly to adrying unit which may be used for drying clothes, fruit, vegetables,grain and various other materials of solid or granular form and also forextraction and separation of chemicals and elements and allied use.

One general object of this invention is to provide a compact form ofdrying unit which is efficient and fool-proof in operation and of a formwhich is economical to manufacture and to the accomplishment of theseends the unit constitutin this invention removes moisture from thearticles undergoing treatment therein by centrifugal force, by heat, andby condensation, all three of these expedients being effective at thesame time.

With the foregoing and other objects in view that will hereinafterappear, the nature of this invention will be more clearly understood byreference to the following detailed description, the appended claim, andthe illustrated embodiment in the annexed drawing.

In said annexed drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of a preferred form of the drying unitconstituting this invention, a portion of the casing thereof beingbroken away to show the interior construction; and

Fig. 2 is a transverse cross-section view taken substantially along theline 2-2; Fig. 1.

Referring now more ing, the drying unit there shown comprises a casin I,preferably of cylindrical form, provided at one end with a door 2 foraccess to the interior of a perforated rotary vaporizing chamber 3 whichextends from one end to the other of said casing. Located inside saidcasing l and preferably below said chamber 3 is one or more heaters Awhich may be of the electric-resistance type and when one is employed asillustrated, the same is disposed directly beneath said chamber 3 andextends parallel thereto from one end to the other of said casing I. Itis to be understood that the electric-resistance type of heater shownwas used for purposes of illustration, and other types of heaterssuitable for this purpose may be employed.

The end of the casing l opposite to door 2 has mounted thereon avariable speed electric drive motor 5 having its drive shaft (not shown)operatively connected with said chamber 3 to rotate thte latter withinsaid casing I.

Disposed within said casing l and surrounding said chamber 3 is acoolant tube 6 having an inlet particularly to said draw- 2 for acoolant fluid at one the other end, said tube 6 being zig-zagged incasing i so as to define a cold wall. A tank arrangement may besubstituted for the coolant tube 6 in order to adapt the unit to itsvarious applications. This substitution is well known to those skilledin the art and further description is not necessary. Insulating walls Iare located on opposite sides of heater 4 and chamber 3, with the upperportions of insulating walls I ending just below the coolant tube 6,providing circulation into the cold wall chamber, and the lower portionsof walls 1 being provided with openings 8 through which condensatecollecting on said tube ii may run down to the bottom of casing I. Atthe bottom of said casing l is an openin to Which the suction port of avacuum pump 9 is connected to remove the condensate running thereto asaforesaid and to reduc the pressure within casing I to a value less thanatmospheric. Said pump 9 may be driven as by means of an electric motorI0, and in addition to the suction line leading to the bottom of casingI, another suction line H leads to the top of the casing to assist inthe creation of a partial vacuum in the casing especially at times whenlarge volumes of condensate are flowing to the bottom opening.

A tube (not shown) may be inserted into the drying or separating chamberwhich contains a valve controllin the flow of air, catalyst or negativecatalyst being admitted to said chamber. This tube will vary in size andis used solely for the purpose of speeding up the reactions, if it so bedesired.

In the operation of this unit the door 2 is opened and the material tobe dried or dehydrated, whether they be clothes, fruits, vegetables,grain or other materials as previously mentioned, are loaded into theperforated rotary chamber 3. The motors 5 and I0 and the heater 4 arethen energized and coolant or refrigerant is caused to flow through tube6. Thus, the chamber 3 r0- tates at a desired speed to tumble thematerial therein, thereby exposing all of the surface area thereof tothe heating influence of the heater 4 and if the speed of rotation issufficient the liquids in the material will be centrifugally thrownthrough the perforated wall of chamber 3. The heater 4, in turn,vaporizes the liquids inside and outside said chamber a whereby thevapors in contacting the exposed portions of tube 6 will condensethereon and run down to the openings 8 at the bottom of casing I. At thesame time, the

end and an outlet at partial vacuum in the casing I will permitexpansion of the vapors.

In this way, the rotation, the heating, the partial vacuum, and the coldwall all cooperate to produce an eificiently operating drying unit whichthoroughly and quickly dehydrates or dries the material loaded intochamber 3.

When the unit is to be operated as a separator, the temperature andvacuum of said chamber 3 will be strictly controlled.

It is to be understood that special holders or racks (not shown) may beprovided in chamber 3 to accommodate material of special shape or havingsurfaces which it is desired to dry more than others. The rotary chamber55 has the additional function of loosening and fluning up the materialtherein, vvhereas otherwise heating of certain moist materials withoutthe rotation or agitation will cause the same to be baked and take theform of lumps which would have to be subjected to further treatment in apulveriser or the like.

I claim:

A unit of the character described for removing liquids from matt 1prising a rotary perforated chainb i such are adapted to be Laded, meansfor rotating said chamber, a casing surrounding said chamber, heatingmeans in for vaporizing liquids in the materials, means providingrelatively cooler surfaces onto which such vapors condense for dischargefrom within said casing, insulating walls between said casing andchamber exposing a portion only of such relatively cooler surfaces, saidmeans providing relatively cooler surfaces comprising a tube which atleast partly encircles said chamber and through which a refrigerant isadapted to be circulated, said tube having its upper portion exposed tothe vaporized liquids and a lower portion from which the condensedliquids collected on such upper portion run to the bottom of saidcasing, and means for creating a partial vacuum in said casing andhaving communication with said casing at the top and bottom thereofwhereby vaporized liquids are drawn past the exposed upper portion ofsaid tube and condensed liquids are withdrawn from the bottom of saidcasing.

Reiercnces Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 316,48 i Rice Apr. 28, 1885 1,564,782 Harris Dec. 8, 1&251,625,548 Kobiolke Apr. 19, 1927 1,672,326 Kobiolke June 5, 19281,948,357 Newkirk Feb. 20, 1934 2,495,535 Morrison Jan. 24, 19502,555,821 Smith June 5, 1951

